


Semper Fi

by DarthLivion (DistantShenanigans)



Category: Ashlesha (Awaken the Stars series), Awaken the Stars Series - Jer Keene
Genre: Gen, Light Angst, Promises, Spoilers, attempting to be a Guardian Angel type thing, hints of a crush if you squint, sort of light angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-28
Updated: 2017-09-28
Packaged: 2019-01-06 15:47:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12213933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DistantShenanigans/pseuds/DarthLivion
Summary: Alex was alive because of Eric, and that was a debt he could never repay.





	Semper Fi

**Author's Note:**

> I own Alex. Deadcat owns everyone else. This is me attempting to give Eric a friend. And, yeah, it may seem like an unrequited crush if you squint, or it can be platonic friendship. It's a toss up.

It'd been just a brief encounter. Kai likely hadn't thought much of it, when Alex stood there and smiled, and handed him the books he'd dropped in the hall. He was just a kind stranger, a classmate or a teacher, doing a poor tired college student a favor.

Alex knew better.

He had served with Eric and Ella, when their squad joined Alex's marines in Baghdad. Alex was alive because of Eric, and that was a debt he could never repay, not with him back in the states, and Eric still overseas.

He'd sworn, on the day that Eric was pronounced dead, that he'd look after the other man's family.

Ella was easy to talk to. She had merely laughed, at the funeral, when he promised she could call on him. She was crying, too, and called him a fucking dumbass, because why would she want his help, when Eric was the one who had to pull Alex out of trouble, instead of the other way around? He'd laughed quietly, tears in eyes, but still promised her he'd be there if she needed him.

The others didn't see him. He'd left, his heart breaking at the thought of having an empty plot where Eric's body should have been, and he'd gone home.

Ella had called, when Kai had gotten into medical school, because she wanted to tell someone and Alex was safe, because Alex didn't know anyone who would want to hurt their family, and he'd realized he wasn't too far from there, so he applied to be a guidance counselor. He had the credentials to do so, and he'd needed a new job anyways, so he went and got hired.

He kept an eye on Kai, knowing that Eric was proud of the kid. Who wouldn't be? The kid was a genius, and on his way to becoming the best doctor in the world, he was sure.

When he saw it on the news, he was horrified. Then they said that damn word. Terrorists, the news claimed, and Alex was furious. Like _hell_ would the Whetū clan be the very people they fought against. He made a decision, then, and resolved to try harder. He had made a promise to Eric.

He looked at the picture of him and Eric in the desert, grinning at the camera held by Ella. The only picture he had of them together, still friends, even though Alex had left the department, and wouldn't tell Eric why he was in his fifties but looked his age.

He had made a promise, dammit, and he would give his other leg to keep it.

“Semper fi, Eric.”

 

 

 

 


End file.
